First Nations ‘activist masquerading as an artist’, Richard Bell. Photo: GoodThing Productions
On Wednesday 28 May, ANMF (Vic Branch) will host a screening of You Can Go Now as part of our National Reconciliation Week activities. Members are invited to enjoy this entertaining, informative and often funny documentary about First Nations ‘activist masquerading as an artist’, Richard Bell.
You Can Go Now looks at 50 years of First Nations activism in Australia through the lens of contemporary Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Goreng Goreng artist Richard Bell, whose work and attitudes have stirred the Australian art world while being lauded internationally.
With a 100% fresh rating on film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film was called ‘essential viewing’ by David Stratton.
ANMF’s screening is open to all members, with entry via donation for First Nations charity Djirra, an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation who work with and support First Nations women in family violence situations.
You Can Go Now screening
When: Wednesday 28 May. Doors open 5.30pm, screening begins at 6pm. Light refreshments will be served beforehand.
Cost: Donation, to go to First Nations charity Djirra
Where: Carson Conference Centre, 535 Elizabeth Street Melbourne.
Who is Richard Bell?
In the words of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Richard Bell is one of the nation’s most important contemporary artists. He uses humour, satire and word play to address issues around representation, place, identity politics, and the perceptions of Aboriginal art within a postcolonial history and framework.
From a childhood in a rural Queensland shack to the lofty halls of the Tate Modern, via the rough and tumble politics of Redfern and the Canberra Tent Embassy, Bell has challenged the institutions of colonisation in Australia and asserted the rights of First Nations people around the world.
He has also profoundly challenged the Australian art world with his scorching manifesto, Bell’s Theorem, that labelled the Aboriginal Art industry as ‘a white thing’ defined by colonial power structures that profit most from it.
In the wake of the Voice to Parliament referendum result, and as Victoria and the nation grapple with truth and treaty, Bell’s ideas cannot be ignored.
What is National Reconciliation Week?
National Reconciliation Week occurs every year from 27 May to 3 June. These dates commemorate two significant milestones in Australia’s reconciliation journey: the successful 1967 referendum, and the 1992 High Court Mabo decision respectively.
27 May 1967
Before 1967, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples did not have the same rights as other Australians under the constitution, and many aspects of their lives were controlled by the state governments. These included the right to:
- Vote in state elections
- Marry whomever they chose
- Move to wherever they chose
- Be the legal guardian of their own children
- Receive the same pay for the same work.
Because the state governments made these laws, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people living in different states had different rights – including, in states such as Queensland for example, no rights at all.
On 27 May 1967, the nation’s most successful referendum saw more than 90 per cent of Australians vote to alter our constitution in order to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Census and to give the Federal Government, instead of state governments, power to make uniform laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
3 June 1992
On 3 June 1992, the Australian High Court delivered the Mabo decision, the culmination of Eddie Koiki Mabo’s challenge to the legal fiction of ‘terra nullius’ (land belonging to no one) and leading to the legal recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of lands. This decision paved the way for Native Title.
